Improvement in ruffles



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL F. DICKINSON, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN PLUFFLES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38.097, dated April 7, 1863.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, SAMUEL F. DrcKINsoN, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain Improvements in Rufiies and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which constitute apart of this specification.

My invention relates to the mode of making rufiies by means of a sewing-machine and gathering apparatus; and it consists in first gathering or rui-Hin g a strip of fabric and securing the gathers by sewing, and then attaching it to a band by one or more series of stitches, independent of the thread used to hold the gathers or plaits in place.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l represents the band before the ruiiled piece is sewed to it; Fig. 2, the rufiied piece, sewed, ready to be attached to the band; Fig. 3, a side view of the ruiiied strip, attached to the band, the right side bein g toward the observer;

Fig. 4, the wrong side; Fig. 5, a transverse section showing` the relation and position of the parts when the rutile is complete.

A is the band 5 B, the ru'tiie. The ruffle is rst formed and sewed on a machine adapted to ruiiling, the plaits or gathers being secured by the seam C. I prefer for this purpose the machine for which Letters Patent were granted to John A. Pipo and Samuel S. Sherwood, January 27, 1863. After the rufle is formed and sewed it is attached to the band A, which may be done on an ordinary sewingmachine, though one with a gage is preferable. The parts of the ruffle are in this manner united by a seam, (marked D in the drawings.)

The advantages of my invention are, rst, the ruffle is cheaper than if made by hand; second, it is more even and uniform; third, as compared with the ordinary ruffle, gathered and stitch ed to a band on a sewing-machine at one operation, it is nearer perfect, on account of its being more free from slipped stitches or dropped plaits; fourth, consequently, :it is handsomer, fifth, it is stronger and more durable, and will stand wear and washing and doing up better.

I do not claim a ruftie in which the fabric is so operated upon as to be ruffled by the feeding device and fastened by the stitching apparatus of a sewing-machine at one and the same operation, when no binding or foundation fabric is employed 5 nor do I claim a rufle in which the gathered cloth is secured to the binding by a single series of stitches, which perform the double duty of confining the gathers and securing the gathered cloth to the binding. Both these kinds of rufdes have been made before. They are quite diiferent from mine, and, for the reasons hereinbefore pointed out, far inferior to it.

Having thus fully described my invention and set forth the manner in which it is carried into effect, I claim as my invention- As a new and useful article of manufacture, a machine-made rufe in which a strip of cloth is first ruffled and the gathers or plaits secured by stitching. and the ruffled piece then fastened to a band by one or more additional independent series of stitches.

S. F. DICKINSON. Iitnessesz WM. LEE, f V. THOMPSON. 

